I didn’t even see it coming. Why? Because I was stupid and didn’t pick up on signals. He leaned forward and crushed his lips to mine in the most sloppy, unpracticed kiss I’d ever had.Half his lips weren’t even on mine. But still, there was something sweet about it.
“Ugh,” he gasped, pulling back just in time to turn and puke all over the floor.
“Yep,” I sighed. “That seems about how someone would react to kissing me.”
Sawyer wiped the vomit from his lips, swaying even harder on his feet. “I feel better now.” Turning back to me, he leaned in again.
“Whoa! Not gonna happen,” I said, pushing him back hard.
He stumbled over his feet, then crashed to the floor. Instead of realizing that I had shoved him, he started laughing. “Man, did you see that? I must have tripped over my feet.”
Rolling my eyes, I stepped around the vomit and walked behind Sawyer, shoving my arms under his to hoist him to his feet.
“Whoa! Ellie! Earthquake! Get down!”
“There’s no earthquake, Sawyer. I’m trying to help you up.”
“Belly Girl! Help! Save me!”
He was losing it, completely freaking out, and I just couldn’t deal with that. Not when his arms were flailing around, threatening to hit me with every wave. Dropping him to the ground, I punched him in the face, knocking him out.
With a nod, I shoved a pillow under his head and walked out the door, locking it behind me before hiding the key under the mat.
I snagged my phone out of my pocket and called Josie. There was no way I was dealing with this.
“Hey, did you get Sawyer inside?”
“Yep. The door’s locked, and the key is under the mat.”
“Oh, thank God. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the help.”
“No problem. Oh, by the way, he vomited all over the floor, and then he fell and hit his face on the floor. That’s why he has a bruise on his cheek.”
There was silence for a minute.
“You hit him, didn’t you?”
“Girl, he kissed me and then vomited.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And when I tried to help him up, he said there was an earthquake, and tried pulling me to the floor. It was the only way to shut him up.”
“Understood. I’ll take care of the vomit.”
“Yeah, there was no way I was dealing with that.”
She sighed heavily as I made my way to my car. “One of these days, he’ll learn and stop getting drunk all the time.”
“Yeah, good luck with him in the meantime.”
I hung up without another word. It was beyond my bedtime and all I wanted was to crash. But I had a feeling that as soon as I was in bed, the usual suspects would keep me awake.
I drove to the edge of town and pulled into my driveway, sighing in contentment when my house came into view. Out of all the things in my life, my house was the thing I cherished the most. It was a mix of old English charm and country living. With a stone exterior and peaked roof, this tiny house had been mine since the moment I laid eyes on it sixteen years ago.
With the grass bright green right now, it showed off the stepping stone path leading up to the house, right to the slabs of stone used as steps. When the English couple moved here twenty-five years ago, they missed the feel of their village and spent years building this house and making it perfect.
And when they decided to move back to England three years ago, I went directly to them and made an offer. It was lower than what they were asking, but when they saw how much I loved the house, they decided to sell it to me.
